Bound Together: Like the Grasses - Softcover

Deborah Cooper is the author of five poetry collections, most recently "Under the Influence of Lilacs" published by Clover Valley Press. She co-edited the anthologies "Beloved on the Earth: Poems of Grief & Gratitude" and "The Heart of All That Is: Reflections on Home" (Holy Cow! Press). She was the 2012-2014 Duluth Poet Laureate.

This wonderful collection deserves its title: individual poems are bound together by subject and season, each one making the one before and after it ring deep and true. From hawks and bliss to the loneliness of a new condo, these poems give us a view that is as open and wide as the prairie. - Joyce Sutphen, Minnesota Poet Laureate, "Naming the Stars" and "First Words" The poems in this collection may be bound together, but individually they fly on bright wings. They fly in close, letting their images dart into metaphor to transform perceptions of loss, loneliness, war, disability. These are soft-spoken hard poems relieved by humor and the wonder happiness is. "Bound Together" isn't novel-length, but it carries big themes and high standards. To anyone who has left the house at night to watch the star-studded sky and spoken to a distant star in prayer or by name or wish, this book is for you. - Sharon Chmielarz, "Love from the Yellowstone Trail" Reading "Bound Together: Like the Grasses" I was struck by how distinct each voice is, as though I were not so much reading as listening. I think of five women talking late into the night, after the day's labors. Now comes philosophy mixed with story, children learning compassion as a dog dies under the stars, a shared "urgency to make my whole life worthwhile." How do we care and keep caring? How do we stay alert and hopeful? These poems are lovely, yes, and they are also useful, exploring the ways that hardship and joy are bound together in our souls. - Connie Wanek, "On Speaking Terms"